Alton: Hi-Store sale advised by MorleyandScott
The corporate finance team at MorleyandScott is celebrating racking-up the perfect deal for Alton-based Hi-Store.
The team, led by John Foundling from MorleyandScott’s Solent office, advised founder and owner, Keith Hancock, on the sale of Hi-Store – a niche and highly successful business in the cantilever racking and mezzanine flooring market – to Whittan Group.
Hi-Store was established in 1991 and employs a team of more than 20 at its Four Marks premises. The company has built its reputation on service led delivery of its trademark products to customers in the retail, DIY, timber and builders merchants sectors.
An innovative business, it engineers and manufactures its own product range, a factor which has underpinned its consistent growth. The stringent tightening of health and safety regulations has also played its part as a sales driver for the company.
Hi-Store’s blue chip client list includes names such as Mothercare, Homebase, Travis Perkins, Wickes and Tesco to name but a few.
The sale, for an undisclosed sum, adds the Hi-Store range of patented products to the European-wide Whittan Group and a platform to expand into the specialist mezzanine flooring field.
Keith Hancock will remain at the Hi-Store helm for the time being whilst the businesses are integrated and he achieves the ultimate goal of the sale, his retirement.
“We were already advising Keith on his exit strategy when the Chancellor made his dramatic announcement about changes to CGT last November,” commented MorleyandScott partner John Foundling.
“It meant that we had to move quickly to ensure that the business was marketed and a buyer found in a timeframe which enabled us to finalise the sale before the CGT changes came into effect. It undoubtedly helped that we had already started the process of identifying potential purchasers.”
The Whittan Group, which has a presence in six countries and employs a workforce of more than 950 across Europe, is the number one supplier of storage equipment in the UK. It recognised the value of the niche market in which Hi-Store is a market leader.
Another factor in it being an attractive acquisition for the Group was the addition of Hi-Store’s Trade Mark systems which are delivered by an already well-established supply chain from China. The China supply chain complements Hi-Store’s long-established UK supply chain where it continues to maintain a strong manufacturing presence and commitment.
Andrew Butler, chief executive of Whittan Group, added: “The documentation we received from MorleyandScott outlined very clearly the obvious synergies between the businesses and also the opportunity for us to expand our market reach working with a well-honed supply chain.
“I’m delighted that we’ve successfully completed the acquisition and I am looking forward to working with Keith and his team in Hampshire as we move forward both in integrating Hi-Store into the Whittan Group and in expanding the specialist offering we can supply to clients across Europe.”
Other advisers to the sale included Roger Bailey of Moore Blatch who was legal adviser to Hi-Store and Alex Lewis and Nick Rainsford of Ashursts who provided legal advice to Whittan Group. Glynn Bellamy, director of transaction services at KPMG, and James Bland of Deloitte also provided advice to Whittan Group.
